We're exporting a lot of yam

Ghana's yam success story is as big as it is underappreciated and the global yam market size is staggering. Ghana is currently the leading producer of yam on the planet and produces more than 20% of the entire supply of yams sold in the world today. This seems to have gone unnoticed for many people in Ghana over time, I myself didn't even know this about my own country, but Ghana is also winning the race globally by being the largest volume exporter of yam, next country in line is Jamaica then Nigeria.

The average person in Ghana has a very negative perspective regarding agriculture, especially farming, thinking of it as a last resort because nothing else has worked. I attended a job expo in Accra about 3 years ago that was held in a posh hotel ballroom, had piles of brochures and had no presence of agribusiness companies, not a single one. This is an huge disconnect.

Ghana has built one of the best yam industries on earth and deserves to be acknowledged. The yam industry has been built through thousands of individual Ghanaian farmers and an equally long supporting supply chain, both of which must be documented so the rest of the world knows just how much Ghana has accomplished. The biggest challenges will continue to be in relation to infrastructure, particularly the cold chain logistics that are needed in order to maintain the integrity of the yams during transport to their final destination. But the infrastructure is there and only needs to be improved.

So my little advice which is not just for Ghanaians but other neighbor countries that are also known for yam export is, for anyone who is currently sitting on agricultural land or who is trying to determine what their future should be over the next 5 years in agriculture, growing yam and exporting yam is clearly a first class opportunity and not a last chance opportunity. There are a growing number of people around the world who want to buy products that originate in West Africa and Ghana is in the best position to satisfy that demand.

Our land is really abundant and fertile, the only remaining thing is whether anyone will choose to show up and work.